


Cadere

by msimamizizam



Series: The Hunters of Yharnam [1]
Category: Bloodborne (Video Game)
Genre: Central Yharnam, F/F if you want to read into it, Gen, Just gals being pals, or... suprose...., prose ish? i suppose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 17:23:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13575372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msimamizizam/pseuds/msimamizizam
Summary: The city was no place for children, really.Sometimes Venus wondered if it had ever been built with them in mind. It was all dark corners, sharp edges, steep, unprotected drops; yet she still remembered when she'd seen the sun shining on Yharnam, bringing it all into much better lighting.





	Cadere

 

 

The city was no place for children, really. Sometimes Venus wondered if it had ever been built with them in mind. It was all dark corners, sharp edges, steep, unprotected drops; yet she still remembered when she'd seen the sun shining on Yharnam, bringing it all into much better lighting, and she had to wonder if it wasn’t the filter of the nightmare blocking her eyes from the memory of her beloved city.

 

 

Only the pale of the moon was cast over the wet cobblestones, any ray of sunlight having disappeared without a trace or a way to call it back. Venus dragged her whetstone over the curve of her saw cleaver, humming to herself as she kept her eyes on the road beneath her. It was almost a forced thing, pushing the noises out of her own throat to cover up the coughing from the windows behind her and the howling of beasts prowling the streets below. How many of them had she known, once? It wasn't like they would have recognized her, with what they’d become.

 

 

Her gently swaying legs hit the side of the ladder, the chime of the metal startling her from her musings. The noise resonated in nearly the same tone as the bell next to her thigh had when she’d rung it. The bell hadn’t caught the attention of the beats before, and it didn’t seem like the ladder would either, but her eyes flickered towards the wavering torchlight of the pacing beast below all the same. Eventually she willed herself to returned focus to the edge of her weapon, once she was sure the one wandering beast and the two pretending to sleep wouldn’t start climbing up to pull her down with them.

 

 

Venus flicked her finger against the teeth along the edge, catching her own reflection in the blue light that illuminated the surface from behind her. Venus couldn't help but smile when she heard the nervous rustling of clothes starting from up high and slowly sinking to the cobblestones of the street, and she didn’t need to turn and look to know her hunter would have finally rested on one knee with her hand over her heart, head down, and sword on the ground.

 

 

"You needed help, my lady?" Venus tilted her head, her expression softening as she rose to her feet. She snapped her weapon open and closed again, feeling the hinge stutter ever so slightly as the latch caught to keep it in position. The newcomer’s eyes drifted upwards, watching Venus as she tested the cleaver, the sharp edge glinting as the moon caught each tooth and seemed to amplify the danger in the throat-ripping power each one held.

 

 

"Do you remember when the crows used to be smaller, Vivi?" Venus let her weapon rest at her side as she watched a flock of the eye-pecking monstrosities take off, flying across the moon to land on one of the empty bridges, towering over the sewers and aqueducts. Vivi did her best to keep her expression neutral as she looked on. "They weren't as violent, either. I played with them when I was younger."

 

 

“I'm afraid I'm a stranger to this place," Vivi said. She watched the birds peck at the stones in the road, some snapping up pebbles in their sharp, curved beaks and swallowing them whole. Her eyes returned to Venus’ face, which was still turned towards the shuffling birds below "The town cured my sickness, and my boredom for sure, but I don't think I'll recognize it or its crows when the sun finally rises."

 

 

"Do you think it ever will?" Venus looked up at the pale moon, hanging low in the sky like it had just risen. It'd barely moved since Venus first opened her eyes, and each reawakening brought her the same scene, and the same moon. "You'd love it, if you could see it in the light... it's a dirty, grimy place to be sure, but so is every other supposedly gorgeous, breathtaking city. Some of it was beautiful, in its own ways."

 

 

Vivi slowly rose, glancing back at the two diverging paths behind her. Two sets of stairs lead down, further into the city and closer to the beasts dwelling within. Venus turned towards the only way forward, deliberating her choices. One stair would take them to the main road and the mob pacing the street, the other wound its way through a dilapidated house, then it was either up to the great bridge or down to the sewers.

 

 

The lamp in the middle of the two paths cast little light over the stones, not nearly enough to shroud one way or the other in symbolic shadowing and make her choice for her, but somehow, Venus hardly blamed it. Light didn't draw anything good to it, and in this place, neither dark and light offered any comfort. Except....

 

 

"I've always wanted to see the Grand Cathedral," Vivi said, her eyes drifting over across the bridge to trace the tall building spires piercing the night sky. She shyly met Venus’ eyes for a moment, before they fell to the ground below. "I've heard it's beautiful."

 

 

"It is, but we can’t go on quite yet." Venus extended her cleaver with a flourish as she watched Vivi pick her sword up from where she’d placed it by the lamp. She smiled, feeling the hinge slide smoothly before locking into place. Vivi balanced her weapon in her hand before examining the edges, littered with small nicks and chips. Venus shook as her head as she checked the bullets in her cache. "We have a certain beast to pay a visit to first, do we not?"

 

 

"I can't say I wasn’t hoping we'd take a nice walk around the town," Vivi laughed quietly, brushing a bit of dirt off her blade. Venus glanced over, and blinked when she saw a small smile grace Vivi’s face before she pulled her mask up. She glanced over at Venus, her weapon ready, her eyes still sparkling the kind of bright green that was completely foreign to the landscape her city had become.

 

 

"When we wake up from the dream, I'll take you somewhere much nicer," Venus promised. “Somewhere with less crows.” She adjusted the belts looping around her waist, securing them tightly before walking over to do the same for Vivi, who watched her fingers deftly arrange each belt into its best position before looking up to watch Venus’ expression.

 

 

"And... if you forget about me?" Vivi's eyes didn’t quite lose their shine, but her voice felt smaller. Venus’ fingers stilled where she was pulling Vivi’s coat together, caught on the fabric of her clothes, her eyes steady on the glint of the moon on Vivi’s belt buckles. It wasn’t a mystery what she was referring to. No hunter forgot Gehrman's promise about what it would mean to see the sun again, and Venus knew it just as well as her companion did.

 

 

Venus laughed, nervously at first, but then let it softly devolve into a more sincere sound once she felt Vivi tense under her fingers. She pulled her coat together and smoothed down the sleeves before stepping back and tilting Vivi’s hat up.

 

 

"I'll just have to hope your lovely face isn't a part of this dream," she smiled. After a moment, Venus walked to the left, stopping in the gate before glancing back. "Come, now. There's much bigger things to worry about." She watched Vivi stand in the moonlight, face upturned towards the sky.

 

 

The moon hung low still in the sky, never moving from its position where it lit up the empty and ravaged Yharnam streets. It was low enough to light up her companion's soft features and light brown hair, and her eyes seemed to regain their shine as they searched for remnants of any stars blinking beside the ever present, searching moon. Venus couldn’t help but think that her hair made her look like a bird, with how the breeze gently ran through it. Such a beautiful bird from so far away, to take flight on a night like this.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Venus - a native of yharnam. skill/bloodtinge. descended from vilebloods, and wishes to save her town from the nightmare. 
> 
> Vivi - a quiet foreigner, suffered from a lung disease before coming to yharnam. strength/arcane. would much rather help Venus along than do anything in her own world.


End file.
